Barra GP resigns amidst health board dispute

There is concern that the island community will now be left without permanent GP cover.

The Western Isles NHS Board has given an assurance that all medical work on Barra will be carried out “safely” following the resignation of the only General Practitioner in the island’s medical practice.

However, the practice is to undergo a change of status to become “Health Board operated” until a replacement can be found at a time when recruitment across Scotland is proving increasingly difficult, particularly in rural areas.

While GPs are independent contractors not directly employed by the Health Board, there is a responsibility to ensure adequate cover.

Dr Mark Willcox, who has resigned from the Barra Medical Practice with effect from this weekend, had been in dispute with the Board for some time, mainly over arrangements for out of hours cover at St Brendan’s Hospital.

In April of last year, he accused the Health Board of “not honouring the promise of a new contract” and claimed that “instead rural practitioners and A&E specialists would be used to staff the hospital.”

In 2020, the two GPs – Dr Willcox and Dr Scott McMinn- had accused the Health Board of causing “needless alarm” by claiming that the practice had withdrawn from the existing arrangement for providing cover. This interpretation was strenuously disputed by the two doctors.

At that time, they blamed the Health Board’s incoming Medical Director, Dr Frank McAuley, for having a vision to run St Brendan’s “with visiting employed emergency and rural GP doctors, as is also the case on Uist.” Relationships have not subsequently improved.

Dr McMinn retired in April of last year leaving Dr Willcox as the sole GP in the practice.

In response to Gazette inquiries about their plans for GP provision on Barra, NHS Western Isles said: “We will be commencing a transition of Castlebay (sic) Medical Practice from independent practice status to Health Board operated practice. The transition will ensure that all contractual and operational activity will be carried out safely.

“Members of the transition team will be working in Barra throughout the duration of the transition prioritising staff engagement and continuity of service for the patients of Castlebay Medical Practice.

“From the 1st of September, the practice will continue to be supported by Locums, until GP recruitment is concluded”.

Barra councillor Iain MacNeil welcomed the commitment to maintain locum cover following Dr Willcox’s departure but expressed the hope that a real effort would be made to appoint a permanent GP. “Relationships between the Health Board and GPs haven’t been good for a number of years and that has to be resolved”, he said.

Dr Willcox has been on Barra since 2016. The Barra Medical Practice was asked for comment but had not responded as we went to press.

As reported in last week’s Gazette, the National Clinical Director for the NHS in Scotland, Jason Leitch, visited Barra to hear concerns about a range of issues. Prominent among these was delivery of out of hours care with all calls now having to go through 111.

The meetings were also attended by the chief executive of the NHS Western Isles board, Gordon Jamieson, and the visitors were left in no doubt about strength of feeling on Barra and Vatersay about the concerns raised.